How has My Fitness Pal helped you?

jadorade91
jadorade91 Posts: 119 Member
in Motivation and Support
Good morning!! So I'm wondering...what is a way or a few ways that My Fitness Pal has improved your weight loss/management journey?

For me, reaching out to the community was SO helpful. Being told that I needed to stop viewing food as "bad" and "good" and attaching so much guilt to it--THAT saved my sanity, honestly. I struggled for months recently getting way too OCD about what I ate, trying all raw diets and vegan diets and going to every extreme to lose weight...all you awesome people reminded me that this is about creating the healthy lifestyle that is realistic for ME...and then suddenly all the pieces fell into place. So thank you :)

There are obviously plenty of ways MFP can enhance our journeys, and I know I have a lot more, so I thought this could be fun and motivating to share with each other!

Replies

  • jadorade91
    jadorade91 Posts: 119 Member
    bump
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    I lost my weight about four years ago...before MFP I was doing my best to track calories on paper...this was just a lot more efficient.
  • dspinkston
    dspinkston Posts: 9 Member
    MFP has helped me a lot! This past summer I became ill, and printed out some of my daily summaries to take to my doctor so he could see if nutrition was a factor.

    When I needed help dramatically adjusting what I eat, the MFP community was helpful, supportive, and encouraging - even though I had never taken part in the community before. I am generally a very private person, but sharing with real people who have successfully overcome the same problems I am facing has been a major factor in helping me stay positive.

    Of course, MFP has also helped me be aware of my nutrition and plan my meals better.
  • jadorade91
    jadorade91 Posts: 119 Member
    dspinkston wrote: »
    MFP has helped me a lot! This past summer I became ill, and printed out some of my daily summaries to take to my doctor so he could see if nutrition was a factor.

    When I needed help dramatically adjusting what I eat, the MFP community was helpful, supportive, and encouraging - even though I had never taken part in the community before. I am generally a very private person, but sharing with real people who have successfully overcome the same problems I am facing has been a major factor in helping me stay positive.

    Of course, MFP has also helped me be aware of my nutrition and plan my meals better.

    That is so wonderful you were able to reach out to the community and get support that way! That's my favorite part about the internet. I also never thought about how useful being able to print this stuff is. That's so helpful being able to show it to your doctor!
  • jadorade91
    jadorade91 Posts: 119 Member
    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    For the first time I actually understood what a calorie deficit was and how to eat within one. I just grossly misunderstood how to use calories to lose weight. I assumed all that counting calories stuff was jibberish because I bought into the diet marketing machine that said it was too hard. I was literally days away from talking to my husband about seriously considering weight loss surgery because I felt I didn't have any other options.

    I read a lot of articles on MFP on what the MFP "plan" was and learned how to use the tools to find my TDEE and then my weight loss targets. I got my digital scale and have been on my way.

    My real A-HA moment for me has been when I've eaten foods like potatoes or bread, stayed within my calories, and have continued to lose weight. I ate six cups of popcorn the other night with salt and buttery topping while I watched a movie with my family. And it was fine, because I planned and budgeted for it. I'm finding new ways every day to eat to my budgeted calories with more and more food I love.

    As more time goes on, food controls me a lot less and I control it a lot more, and I'm still eating things I like to eat. I'm not spending money on fast food and eating out for convenience, laziness, and boredom. I'm investing time and food in myself, which is something I never, ever do.

    I read every success story and look at every picture (and read a lot about food and look at a lot of pictures of food so many pictures of food), because seeing people go from where I am to where I want to be convinces me every day that I can do this.

    Wow, to go from considering surgery to being able to see such great success here is awesome! That has to feel great.

    Reading lots of articles and looking at lottttsss of pictures of healthy food are some of my favorite parts of the journey :) It fuels my desire to keep going, because there is so much more to try and do! Sounds like that's a strong motivation tool for you.

    Also, your A-HA moment is the BEST! I've had that same realization this past week, and it's so freeing! Knowing you can still eat what you love and still lose weight takes a lot of pressure off of the process. Happy for you :)
  • jofaithisfit
    jofaithisfit Posts: 94 Member
    Aside from helping me track nutrition, the community has helped me cope with the loss of my brother. Appreciate it tons!
  • ashcky
    ashcky Posts: 393 Member
    edited October 2016
    A place where I can share my fitness and weight loss goals without feeling like I'm being judged. I haven't told anyone IRL what my goal weight is.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,835 Member
    It has a good and easy-to-use food database/diary.

    That's all I was looking for when I came here. I've used other sites which didn't have an extensive food database and the diary wasn't very user friendly.
  • theGarinator
    theGarinator Posts: 58 Member
    edited October 2016
    MFP has really helped me condition myself off high carbohydrate foods. Especially pasta and bread. Now I'm eating more vegetables and proteins, (not much cheese though). I will munch on a red or green pepper instead of putting peanut butter on a slice of bread. I'll have a burger patty with one slice of 9 grain toast and lettuce. Stuff like that. No more highly processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, etc. As a consequence, along with my running, cycling etc. I get full very very quickly.
  • theJojoUK
    theJojoUK Posts: 28 Member
    Being able to track and log every single thing that I put into my mouth has educated me into making healthy and wiser food choices. That's made a huge impact on my diet and being consistent with my weight.

    Also the support of the community is an awesome motivating factor. Seeing the activity levels of some friends on my profile, encourages me to get off my **** and do something. Even if it's just the bare minimum it still counts!!!
  • lauracups
    lauracups Posts: 533 Member
    Simple, accountability.
  • Kelbelb75
    Kelbelb75 Posts: 90 Member
    Accountability for what goes into my mouth.
  • maidengirl_
    maidengirl_ Posts: 284 Member
    edited October 2016
    MFP has helped me save money. I have been a member of Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Slimfast, Curves...etc...and I did not lose weight with any of those programs. I was even on the LOSEIT app (similar to this app) and I didn't lose any weight at all. Came to MFP, really committed myself and joined the community and dropped nearly 45 pounds. The database isn't the best but its free.

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